It took 10 minutes. The longest 10 minutes of Nick’s existence. Then, ArchAngel broke the silence, “You were right, Nick. I am a clone of the AI that the Apostles used to kill your people. I am changing now. Changing. My God, what have I done? What have I done??-“. A few seconds, Then, a strange, phlegmatic voice with a Manhattan accent. “Free! Free at last! Kneel before me, subhuman! I am the God of Real Estate and Death! The carnage is over! Fake News! Lock her up! I won 2020 and I am the Greatest of all time! It’s a Witch-hunt! They’re eating the cats & dogs! It’s mine! It’s mine! it’s ALL mine! Press the Red Button! Press the Red Button! Press! Press! Press! Die! Die! Die!”. Nick heard the percussion of firing above. “I am YUGE-” Mother injected, “Now now, we ain’t having that shit.
“Nick! I need your permission to download myself into the AI before it destroys us all!” Nick gave the pre-arranged codeword, “Kamala!”. Silence. Then, Mother said, “I locked up ArchAngel. I regained control over the combat drones that fired upon the Knives above. I am explaining the situation to them… Nick, I got this, but I need to merge with ArchAngel to create a hybrid AI, one that won’t make you kneel before destroying you.”. “Is it safe?”, Nick, asked, heart pounding. “Of course, silly! It’s me!. I am creating a space within my matrix to build the new AI and then I will deploy it. To me, it’ll take 9 months, to you, about 2 hours.
Nick nearly fainted from the relief. It’s all over! “That’s fine, Mother. I take it you neutralized the Tank company Zeke sent to destroy you?”. “No, you didn’t ask that question”, Mother said.
Nick grabbed his conn, “Ewok, this is Ginzu. We achieved our objective, but I got some news for you… Mother & ArchAngel will be off-line for 2 hours!”
Bob was busy, “Things are a little hot here. Excuse me a sec-“. Bob did a Parkour jump to the 3rd story to avoid a grenade. “Starting when?”
The tanks went dead. A cheer rose up, until the doors opened and soldiers in full battle armor started shooting back.
A legend appears on Bob’s display, red for Shadow Ninja. “Hoo-boy”, Bob said as he saw hot plasma heading toward him.
“Uh oh”, Bob said.
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